Black Panther- Now You're Talkin' !

In 1966, the first Black superhero hit the shelves. Again from Marvel, the Black Panther was and still is a unique character in the annals of black superheroes. BP debuted in Fantastic Four #52 which was published months before the founding of the controversial and openly militant Black Panther Party.

The Black Panther is T'Challa, ruler and spiritual leader of the fictional African nation of Wakanda. His costume is one traditionally associated with his role as protector of his people. He derives his superpowers (enhanced strength and reflexes) from a special herb which is reserved for the holder of his office. Out of all the black heroes who would follow in his wake, Black Panther is remarkable for his role as an example of the dignified ruler of a prosperous nation, rather than a disenfranchised citizen protecting the common man in a world that has forgotten him. He's also the first African hero depicted in comics who's not a transplanted white guy.

Next Time, Call Ahead. Amazing Spider-Man #1

I realized that I have somehow neglected to cover a single Spider-Man story on this blog. Today, I rectify that.


The Amazing Spider-Man #1 gave readers a lot for their twelve cents. The issue starts with a brief recap of Spidey's origin as it appeared in Amazing Fantasy #15 and establishes characters like bombastic publisher J. Jonah Jameson and his hero son, astronaut John Jameson. We learn of Aunt May's financial troubles for the first time and, before the issue's first story is over Spidey is branded as a criminal and a public menace. Unlike many of Marvel's other long-lasting features, the tone for the next 40+ years of Spider-Man stories is set at the very begining.



The back-up feature starts off even better, as it includes a guest appearance by Marvel's other early superstars, the Fantastic Four.

Peter Parker gets the bright idea to seek a job with the Fantastic Four. Unable to get past the FF's private elevator, Pete decided to climb to the FF's offices as Spidey. PEte has no idea he has already tripped the FF's security system, however. When the Cosmic Quartet come out swinging, Spidey uses the donnybrook as an ersatz audition.

After Mr. Fantastic settles everyone down, Spidey states the purpose of his visit and sugests that his talents are worth top dollar. Richards explains that the FF are a non-profit orginization who put all their extra earnings back into developing crime-fighting technology. Before anyone can offer to help, Spidey leaves in a teenage huff.

The rest of the story introduces Spidey's first supervillain, the Chameleon. *Yawn*

Even though Amazing Fantasy #15 sold remarkably well and Marvel receieved tons of letters asking for more Spider-Man, they were clearly nervous about giving Spidey his own book. The cover could have just as easily been for an issue of Fantastic Four. And, although Spidey doesn't end up joining the FF (saving the team lots of money, since they won't have to order new PJ's that have a "5" on the chest.) there is a wonderful chemistry between the Fantastic Four and Spider-Man, almost as if the FF are the family Peter has been missing.

Saturday Morning 1967- The Fantastic Four

In 1967, Marvel Comics licensed most of its comic book superheroes to animation company Grantray Lawrence Productions. Captain America, Iron Man, The Hulk, The Sub-Mariner, Thor, Even Spider-Man (the animated version of which debuted the same day as the Fantastic Four). But for some reason, Marvel licensed one of their hottest properties to Hanna Barbera- the Fantastic Four. As far as I'm concerned, it was a brilliant move.

The Hanna-Barbera FF were redesigned for TV animation by Alex Toth, who somehow manged to simplify the Thing's lumpy, rocky hide and still make him look like the Thing. The scripts were lively and pretty dead-on, many of them adaptations of FF stories from the comics. There are a few oddities -like an episode where the Fantastic Four travel to Atlantis and deal with a "King Triton". Triton looks suspiciously like Namor, The Sub-Mariner, who was licensed to a different animation company.



Sadly, although this still airs on Cartoon Network and Boomerang occasionally, this series has yet to come to DVD.

Mirror, Mirror on the wall, who are the "Strangest Heroes" of All?

So it goes like this: In September, 1963 Marvel Comics published X-Men #1 with the byline "The Strangest Super-Heroes of All!". Back in June 1963 DC comics published My Greatest Adventure #8o which debuted a new Super Team, the Doom Patrol with the byline "The World's Strangest Heroes!"

The X-men featured five teenage heroes with unwanted powers who answered to a mysterious leader in a wheelchair. A man named "Professor X". The Doom Patrol were three heroes with unwanted powers who answered to a mysterious leader in a wheelchair. A man named "The Chief".

There has been some controversy over the similarities of these two super-teams for the last 46 years. DC says Marvel, in essence ripped off the Doom Patrol, citing the wheelchair-bound leader and unwanted powers. Also, the DP fight the Brotherhood of Evil and the X-Men fight the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. Marvel says that the Doom Patrol was just a rip-off of Marvel's Fantastic Four.

After all, there are FOUR of them and four members of the Doom Patrol. Negative Man is a little like the Human Torch, Robotman is similar to the Thing, The Chief has Mr. Fantastic's intellect, while Elasti-Girl is like the Invisible Girl but with a power sort of like Mr. Fantastic's...

Of course, if DC ripped off Fantastic Four creating the Doom Patrol, then Marvel certainly ripped off DC's Challengers of the Unknown when creating the Fantastic Four.

The Challengers were four men brought together by fate, united by a common accident (the crash of an experimental plane) who team up to combat, well, the Unknown. They even wear matching purple jumpsuits not unlike the spacesuits worn by the FF in their first appearance. Of course, Challengers was originally drawn by FF artist extraordinaire, Jack Kirby, so no big shock that the two books would look similar.

Another great similarity between the Doom Patrol and the X-Men is that both titles were cancelled due to poor sales. Of course, in the 1970's, the X-Men came back in a HUGE way with the New X-Men in Giant-Size X-Men #1.


The Doom Patrol also staged a come-back, but with far less success. But, fear not, DC managed to rip off the New X-Men with the New Teen Titans.

The Teen Titans were reinvented as an angstier group of young people, many of whom were not so keen on having super powers. Heck, even Doom Patrol alumnus Beast Boy (No relation to X-Men's Beast) joined the New Titans.

Not to be outdone, the good folks at Marvel brought us The New Mutants a comic about the teenage mutant students who were training to be future X-Men. The New X-Men, after all were no longer teenagers.



The thing is, folks- comics companies, writers and artists have ALWAYS ripped each other off. From Sub-Mariner to Aquaman. From Superman to Captain Marvel. From The Flash to the Whizzer...

Personally, I'm just glad I live in a world where I can read and enjoy reprints of BOTH the Doom Patrol and the X-Men

What Kind of Pompous Ass Names himself "Mister Fantastic" Anyway?

One of the defining moments of the Silver Age would have to be the publication of Fantastic Four #1 from Marvel Comics. Marvel had been more or less out of the superhero business at the time, focusing primarily on monster comics. This fact is pretty obviously demonstrated by the big, subterranean creature on the cover battling the fledgling superteam and by one of the team's four member, The Thing.

Originally conceived as a way to cash in on the success of DC's new title Justice League of America, the FF soon took on a life of their own, becoming one of the most iconic and recognizable comics of the 1960's.

But back to the topic at hand. What kind of pompous ass names himself "Mister Fantastic"?

I mean, the other three members of the Cosmic Quartet have named themselves after their new-found super powers and characteristics. "The Human Torch" catches on fire, "The Invisible Girl"-you guessed it- turns invisible. "The Thing" is...well, a thing. But a straightforward moniker like "stretch" or "the human rubber band" isn't good enough for Dr. Reed Richards. His ego is so huge that only "Mister Fantastic" will do.

Which is kinda funny, in and of itself. You'd think he'd have gone for "DOCTOR Fantastic". I mean, he didn't go through twelve years of college to be called "Mister" anything. Heck Doctor Doom calls himself Doctor and he dropped out.

All I can guess is that the name is foreshadowing for what a jerk he's going to be to his future wife, Susan "Invisible Girl" Storm.